3 Betas you should download this week: XBMC 12, Firefox 17, and Decor8

In this first of many "3 Betas you should download this week" posts, we highlight three Beta software we selected from the past week. In this edition, we will highlight XBMC 12, Firefox 17, and Decor8, all three of which are great software to try out and are really useful.

XBMC, a free award winning and open source software media player and entertainment hub designed for digital media, has reached version 12 and a beta is now available for all to download. XBMC is a unique media player that has seen over 50 software developers contributing to its development.

Mozilla Firefox 17 is a free and open source Web browser descended from the Mozilla Application Suite and managed by Mozilla Corporation. Firefox is also the second most widely used internet browser. Firefox uses the Gecko layout engine, which implements most current web standards in addition to several features that are intended to anticipate likely additions to the standards. So what's noticeably new in Beta 6? Firefox 17 comes with a new click-to-play blocklisting feature that prevents vulnerable plugin versions from running without the user's permission. On top of that, Firefox 17 features an updated Awesome Bar which now has larger icons.

Windows 8 limits your start screen customization options to only 10 provided background images and a few pre-defined color schemes. Decor8 removes these limitations and provides the freedom to personalize your start screen with your own images and colors.